Mother of all systems to track earth disasters

London: Imagine a hi-tech system linked to satellites and deep ocean sensors that can warn against looming natural disasters anywhere on earth.

It may sound like something straight out of a H.G. Wells novel, but the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) pioneered by the United States could be reality in less than 10 years' time.

One of the project's chief architects, Conrad Lautenbacher, US Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, said the real-time picture generated system could one day safeguard against tsunamis, hurricanes and even the spread of bird flu.

"Wouldn't it be good to track bird flu you can do that. Health is one of its components," Lautenbacher said in an interview.

"Diseases could be tracked and eventually mitigated against, so they could be stopped before they even start," he said on the fringes of the World Maritime and Technology conference in London.

The System-of-Systems, as it is known, draws on the technological assets of some 60 countries and 43 organisations and aims to collate information gathered by thousands of instruments worldwide. It could also be used to manage the world's dwindling resources more efficiently.

"Some thirty years ago when people first started writing about the need for such a system it looked like science fiction," he said.

"But there is a confluence of technology in the world today that wasn't there 30 years ago and there is a real need with 6 billion people in the world and growing to 9 billion to beat the Malthusian prophecies," he said. "You have to move and use your brain use our knowledge for the benefit of humankind," he said.

Recognising its importance, the G-8 group has made it one of its three top science projects and the European Commission and US administration have given it their backing.

Like an all seeing virtual eye the system works by streaming data from thousands of different instruments that assess the state of the earth.